"Valentin Ivanov, pleasure." Iva's father introduced himself in a dry, almost uninterested tone that said that he didn't quite have the measure of Flynn just yet and therefore didn't quite know how to play it. He shook Flynn's hand firmly and offered a polite smile. "This is my wife Emilja, and my mother Hristina. Iva has probably not mentioned us, though your name sounds familiar." He said, shooting his daughter a sideways look that had the girl staring at the ground. Iva had mentioned her family a few times actually, and not always in a negative way, until she'd been disinherited, but telling her father that was useless, he would say something cutting about being shocked and claim it was 'teasing'.
"Hold, Flynn?" Iva's mother said with a furrowed brow, as if she were trying to remember something, looking over at him. Mrs. Ivanov's accent was thicker than her husband's, though better than her mother-in-law's by far. "This is the man who takes you from jail, ja?"
""Ja Maika" Iva supplied, jumping on the line of conversation eagerly and unconsciously slipping into the Bulgarian names for her parents that she used to use when she wanted to get on her parents' good side. She offered Flynn a tense smile. "He is, he's great."
"Oh, how kind of him." Emilja cooed, flashing a bright smile at her daughter's companion. "Thank you Flynn, blagodaryá, we were glad to hear she was safe."
"Hmm, I was not surprised." Hristina Ivanov scoffed gently, crossing her arms and continuing in a passive-aggressive tone. "Little Ivy had good talent for weaseling out of bad situation with no consequences." Speaking to her daughter directly, she offered a smile and deceivingly friendly tone. "Vizhdam, che otnovo sa namerili momcheto da sledvat sled kato zagubeno kuchentse."
Iva didn't catch all of the words but she understood the general meaning and she couldn't help the glare that she leveled at the older woman, merely receiving a raise eyebrow in return. Despite how things had changed since she went to college, Iva never used to really stand up to her parents, let alone her stern, disdainful Baba. She would speak in her own defense of course, but so often her defenses were dismissed and her parents' words were dubbed 'teasing', so Iva had always looked like an overly sensitive, petulant child until she'd rarely bothered. Ever the peacekeeper, Iva's mother looked between her daughter and mother-in-law and seemed to pick the first topic that came to mind.
"So Flynn, you are Iva's... boyfriend?" She asked in a bright tone, nodding in Flynn's direction and cutting her eyes over at her youngest daughter, hoping to draw her away from the confrontation by talking to him directly about their relationship.
Iva flushed as her father looked away from Flynn to turn his penetrating gaze on her. She had never told her parents about her opinions on love or relationships, there was no reason to, but Milena 'let things slip' enough that they had a good enough idea what Iva's love life was like. Before she could answer, her grandmother butted in with another fake smile, patting her daughter-in-law's hand. "Oh I'm sure boyfriend is not the right word Emilja, Little Ivy does not do such things, recall? She does not like to narrow herself and live life God intended."